Last December, all-BIPOC pop-punks Action/Adventure put on an exceptionally great basement set at First Unitarian Church. The Chicago-based quintet was sandwiched between two emo family acts, headliners Tiny Moving Parts and our phriends Greywind, who handled opening duties. Well, we recently befriended Action/Adventure, as well, and found out that that show was an especially memorable one for them, too. Earlier this week, I got a chance to chat with Action/Adventure vocalist/guitarist Brompton Jackson (along with lead vocalist Blake Evaristo and guitarist Oren Trace) from the road, three weeks into The Ever After Tour, the band’s first-ever headlining jaunt, coinciding with the release of sophomore LP Ever After, which dropped October 24th via Pure Noise Records. This coming Monday, 11/17, Action/Adventure will be bringing The Ever After Tour to Warehouse on Watts, along with support acts Not My Weekend and Diva Bleach, who are more than worth showing up early for. Get your tickets below and see what Brompton had to tell me about all of this and more.
Izzy Cihak: You’ve played Philly a number of times over the years. Any favorite memories of playing here, whether from onstage or just around town? Your show last year at The Church with Tiny Moving Parts and Greywind was totally great.
Brompton Jackson: Honestly, that show last year was a highlight for us. The venue was so cool, and our green room was literally a chapel. We’ve never had a bad time in Philly. The crowds always show up and we always have a blast!
Izzy: You just released your second full-length, Ever After, and I know you’ve said that the overall theme is sort of about the realities of “living your dream,” for better and worse, but I’m curious how you think it compares to previous releases in terms of the sounds you were exploring and even just the process of writing and recording it?
Brompton: I think we definitely captured a very honest representation of where we are as a band right now. Coming into writing this record we knew that we wanted to write songs that were both heavier and reflected influences from genres that we listen to regularly but haven’t really made their way into Action/Adventure songs yet. We wanted to make a record that we wanted to listen to. We were lucky and able to spend a total of almost two months split across two sessions in the studio writing and recording this record with Alan Day. We’ve never been able to really live in the writing/recording process like that before. It allowed us to spend more time on the little things that I think set this release apart.
Izzy: On a related note, what do you feel like Alan brought to your sound and/or sessions? How would you characterize your working relationship with him?
Brompton: He really helped us explore different elements that we’ve never had in our songs before. A perfect example was the intro to the song “Something Isn’t Right Here.” Originally that was a guitar riff that Oren was playing, and technically it still is, but it’s super processed and it sounds like a synth. It was awesome to be able to experiment and just be creative in a space all together as a band.
Izzy: You’ve released a number of really cool official music videos for album tracks (I especially love the “URL” video!) How do you approach the visual elements of the band? Are there particular things that tend to inspire them?
Blake Evaristo: We always shoot for the stars when making music videos. We try to hit a balance of telling a story while being visually enticing. It’s always fun because we get to draw influence from other music videos and even TV and film to get our ideas across. On our video “Spiral” there’s direct horror influences in there if you can spot them!
Izzy: This is a kind of corny question, but considering that this is your sophomore LP, I’m curious if you have any favorite sophomore LPs?
Oren Trace: From Under The Corktree, There’s a Whole World Out There (Arm’s Length), birdwatching (CLIFFDIVER), Selfish Machines (Pierce The Veil). The list goes on. Lots of artists release really strong sophomore LPs!
Izzy: You’ve been with Pure Noise for a while now. How has it been working with them and just being a part of that amazing roster? Slow Crush are some of my favorite people in music.
Brompton: Working with Pure Noise has been great. They are the label we had always wanted to work with. They’re super supportive of our creative vision and honestly let us mostly do what we want. It’s a great working relationship.
Izzy: You recently kicked off The Ever After Tour. How have the first dates gone so far? Any standout moments?
Brompton: Leading up to this tour I know that we were all pretty nervous. We’ve never headlined shows outside of Chicago and the turnout and response has been better than we’ve expected and we’re so grateful. Phoenix and Dallas really brought the energy. Those were amazing nights.
Izzy: What can be expected of the headlining show when you’re here at Warehouse on Watts?
Brompton: The vibes are so on. We’ve got a pretty long set, for us, and we’re going to play a bunch of songs off the new record, not just the singles. It’s going to be a good time.
Izzy: You’re playing these dates with Diva Bleach and Not My Weekend, who I totally dig (especially Diva Bleach). What do you think about your tourmates, both musically and just as people you get to hang out with every day?
Brompton: We’ve been having a blast getting to know the other bands. Everyone is getting along really well and it’s been a great time hanging out. Touring is always weird, because you’re thrust into a situation where you likely don’t know the other bands super well, but you spend most of your day together. By the end of the tour, you form these lasting bonds and the crazy thing is it’s very unlikely that you’ll ever tour with this exact group of people again. The coolest part though is that these are people who have been in the trenches with you, and that creates a bond you don’t really ever forget. Some of my closest friends now I’ve met through touring.
Izzy: On that note, what are some of your favorite things to get up to while you’re on tour, when you’re not playing the shows themselves?
Brompton: We’re big coffee drinkers, so we love finding coffee shops. We also love finding food spots and local chill bars. It’s nice to find good local spots and make note of them for next time we’re in a city.
Izzy: Finally, what’s next for you, after these dates wrap? How are you hoping and planning to close out 2025 and kick off 2026?
Brompton: Our friends in The Home Team invited us to play with them back home in Chicago, so that will be our last show of the year. After that, we’re going to take some time to recharge over the holidays, and then we actually have talked about starting writing again. Turns out we have more things we want to say, so we’re going to keep writing during our free time and get ready for some cool things in 2026 that we can’t talk about just yet.
*Get your tickets here.
